At 12:01 PM -0700 7/27/00, petro wrote:
>Mr. May opined:
>>....
>
> There was a presentation at the Bay Area Cypherpunks meat
>meet about "E", a capabilities based language. Is that along the
>lines of what you are looking for?
>
> I can't find anything on the web, but searching for "E" isn't
>going to get you a lot of useful stuff, and the rest of the things
>linked in memory to that concept.
>
> Ah. Found something:
>
>Mark Miller described his "E" programming language -- a capabilities system
>built on the idea that pure objects are equivalent to pure capabilities.
>The system is the latest in a series of capabilities based adventures, and
>is proposed as an ideal environment for working on smart contracts, self
>enforcing documents which can be executed and evaluated by a machine,
>rather than a lawyer.
>
> Unfortunately, that's the only reference I can find in the
>time I have available to look.
No, E is only one facet. It's more similar to the "provably correct"
software and design stuff. (A la Viper, the one-time British uP
project, for critical apps like train control, etc.)
The E mailing list is available at http://www.erights.org/, along
with other material on E. There was some financial cryptography
software done in E at this year's FC Conference.
However, as I said, this is "just another language." It's not clear
that in a world where all languages are basically powerful enough to
implement the same things that a new language is all that necessary.
In any case, it doesn't provide for the many building blocks and glue
I was talking about.
And, interestingly, the Mojo Nation stuff was _not_ done in E.
--Tim May
--
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
